The last time I left you I was job hunting and in the end I pretty much worked my entire time in Brisbane…which I will use as a good excuse for not updating my blog!

The jobs varied significantly and most of them were just absolute rubbish for example…first job was working for a company who sort out the pay machines in car parks.The office consisted of me and the manager who during my 2 week period there, the manager was out of the office 5 of the 10 days leaving me with absolutely nothing to do.You might think 'easy money' but I would rather be busy than twiddling my thumbs and having no one to speak to from 8:30am till 4:30pm every day.

The second job only lasted 3 days as they couldn't get themselves organized enough to figure out what work they wanted me to do, which led to me having to sit around a little more.Third job was in fact the best one of the bad bunch.I worked on reception at the Castlemaine 4X Brewery.The job was pretty much dealing with the switchboard, meeting visitors, sorting post and dealing with the deliveries.The only bad thing was not being allowed to take advantage of the staff discount for alcohol!The people there were friendly and I got to talk pretty much nonstop all day.

After this job ended I did a few random days elsewhere but one thing for sure I am so fed up of tempting now.The companies treat you like absolute crap and just think you temp because you can't get any other job.They speak to you like you have no brains and because you are only temping assume they don't need to tell you important things like how to get out of the building when it gets locked at 5pm and you don't finish until 5.15pm!On the rare occasion I got asked questions about my background and they found out not only did I have a degree but also an MSc they often changed the way they spoke to me.I could look at that in two ways either they assume all temps are dumb or that I in particular look dumb!I'll let you decide that point…………

One things for sure it made me realize how much I missed my job at home although had I stayed the job would have been cut in April due to lack of local authority funding therefore feel like to have jumped rather than pushed!

Other than work unfortunately I was not able to enjoy Brisbane that much as it rained so much when I was there.Australia is currently having a really bad summer with lots of flooding in many states, so it is not only Britain that suffers from wet summers!I was lucky enough to stay with a friend the entire time I was there and managed to save some money on lodgings.Bridget and her family live around 25 min from central Brisbane and are so close to the train station I could leave the house 2 min before the train was due and still be there in time.Bridget was kind enough to take me to a water park and the beach during my stay and we enjoyed many bbq's and lovely homemade food every day.

I grew to really like Brisbane and found it a really nice city to work in.The only thing I'd change is the weather and move it closer to a beach.Bridget and I took Macsen her son to the beach at Surfer Paradise one day and had a really loley day.Surfers is a notorious backpacker haven but all I could see was ugly sky scrappers so other than the beach I would not recommend it.

Bridget after ten years seems to have settled into Australia life really well although once thing she said she could never get used to was the warm Christmases.I can totally see what Bridget means and other than the odd tree and Christmas lights you would not think it was Christmas here.They really do not do decorations quite like us Brits other than the odd house who go OTT for charity.

I left Brisbane on the 18th December and I think Bridget was glad to have her spare room back.Had a lovely time in Brisbane and owe a lot of that to Bridget and her family. So many thanks.